Top 10 news apps for smartphones

Tech pundits keep telling us that this is the era of being always connected or always online. A time when we get news the moment it happens, pushed right on to our handsets and tablets, irrespective of where we are. While we are not doubting the wisdom of those words, the stark fact is that network coverage remains spotty and our schedules, unpredictable. The result: you might actually get news when you do not have time to read it, and might not be able to get online (you might be travelling by air, for instance) when you do want to read it. Fortunately, as for most things in life these days, there is an app (or rather, apps) for that — apps that let you download the news of the day in one brisk download and then let you read it when you feel like it, connectivity be damned. And the ten apps that follow do just that. And very well indeed:

Not too many people are aware of it but the BBC's app on the iPad actually downloads stories and saves them for viewing every time it is loaded fully. Yes, it does take a bit of time to download all the stories under all the sections and there is no way of checking progress but many would think that is a small price to pay for some of the most famous news reporting in the world. However, just remember that pictures will not download for most of the stories.

Available for iPad. Free

Early Edition

An RSS reader that lays out all the news in newspaper-like format and presents it on your iPad? The Early Edition is a wiz at that. You can import feeds from your Google Reader or opt to add new ones, depending on your needs. You can get the latest news by simply tapping a button to 'fetch' the latest feeds or set a schedule for fetching new feeds. The app will also remember your previous fetch for good measure in case you feel like going through older news. And you can read most stories offline, though sometimes without the pictures accompanying them (the blank squares can be irritating). At $4.99, some might consider to be a bit expensive, but we think it's a good investment for those who like news from multiple sources.

Available for iPad. $4.99

Flipboard

All right, it is best known as the iPad's 'killer app' which converts your Facebook and Twitter feeds into a flippable magazine form but the fact is that if you end up selecting the right sections (there are lots of options to choose from, including The Economist, Bloomberg, BBC World News, etc.), you can actually end up with a very decent offline news reader that is laid out like a magazine, although you might not always end up with images. Just let the app load once completely and all your stories will be there to be read, depending on the amount of detail the sites covered are willing to share with the app (BBC often lets you see no more than a couple of lines!).

Available for iPad. Free

NewsRob

The ultimate news app for Android news freaks, NewsRob syncs with your Google Reader to pull news to your device. But its greatest strength is the fact that it downloads full articles in the background every time you sync it. You can even tweak the settings to ensure that images are loaded as well, and that older articles are kept on the device or that the app retains only those you have not read. There are both free and paid versions — and the free one is good enough if all you are looking for is lots of news to read, even with no connectivity around, and are willing to put up with a few ads!

Imagine being able to just put your favourite newspaper on to your tablet, ready to pull out and read whenever you wanted? Well PressReader does just that. It literally places more than a thousand newspapers from all over the world just a click away from your handset or tablet. All you need to do is pick the newspaper you wish to read, and a digital replica of the print edition will be downloaded on to your device, complete with every cartoon, ad and puzzle, waiting to be read when you want, no further connectivity needed. The app itself is free but the digital editions cost money ($0.99 per download, or $29.99 per month for as many as you want), but that is a small price to pay for literally the closest thing to a newspaper on your device!

Available for iOS, Android and BlackBerry. The app is free, but content is paid

PULSE

Steve Jobs praised this news accumulating app brought out by Indian developers, but while most people get dazzled by its incredibly simple interface (news items from a particular website get laid out in a scrollable row), not too many know that it works perfectly without an Internet connection too. All you need to do is run it once and let all the news items load. That done, go offline, and just click on the news item you wish to read and you will be able to read it without any problems.